Green Shoots and Leaves: 2021 Season-In-Review
The Milk's Canberra Raiders 2021 Season-In-Review. It wasn't pretty. Indeed it became bloody ugly. And yet, lime green shoots emerged from scorched earth and tundra
And so! A warm welcome to The Milk’s inaugural, 2021 Season-In-Review, a year safely and succinctly summarised thus:
Well, that was shit-house.
The end.
But no. Support for our Green Machine never ends. As John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) said in First Blood: “Nothing is over! You just don't turn it off! It wasn't my war! You asked me, I didn't ask you! And I did what I had to do to win! But somebody wouldn't let us win! And I come back to the world and I see all those maggots at the airport, protestin’ me, spittin’. Callin’ me baby killer and all kinds of vile crap! Who are they to protest me, huh? Who are they? Unless they've been me and been there and know what the hell they're yelling about!”
One hundred per cent correct, ex-Green Beret John Rambo. One hundred per cent correct.
Doesn’t mean we cannot hold something of an enquiry, however.
Because, sports fans: it was shit-house. We are better than that. And yet we were not.
And we would ask: What is the meaning of this?
And we would quote dear Geoff Toovey who said: “There’s got to be an investigation.”
This will not be that investigation.
This, rather, is The Milk’s Good, Bad and Ugly Season-In-Review for 2021.
And, like the season, it is not going to be pretty.
Power Poms Pissed Off
We began in March, as we always do, though as we particularly do in this The Stuart Era, full of hope.
Not cautious hope. Not audacious hope. Genuine, justified, we-belong-among-the-big-dogs-and-the-experts-agree hope.
Grand finalists in 2019. All-but into the decider in 2020. Johnny Bateman was gone but otherwise all appeared slick aboard the Good Ship Stick.
Within a month it was all we could do to stay afloat.
There was a rumble from the jungle: halfback George Williams, pregnant partner, long way from home, wanted a release from his contract at the end of season ‘21.
The request went back and forth. The club was empathetic but firm. Have six weeks at Christmas. See you when we see you. But, mate, we paid Wigan $200k to get you here…
Williams’ manager asked again, and then again. The club, like the computer, said no.
The next day, after the third approach was rebuffed, Williams called a welfare officer, said he wouldn’t be at training. That person advised that he call Ricky Stuart. The pair had a chat and Williams advised Stuart that he wasn’t up for playing that weekend, either.
Stuart went to Don Furner. And the pair agreed that Williams could have what he wanted.
Release granted, George! Effective immediately!
Williams baulked. That’s not what I meant. But it was done.
There followed much back-and-forth between Williams and News Ltd journos Paul Kent and James Hooper. And something about the beach.
And back to Blighty our Georgie boy went.
In a column for the BBC Williams said:
“I'm just sad that relationship is pretty sour, I've not spoken to [Stuart] since the release. He was brilliant and I'll never forget that, but when things went bad he turned his back on me.”
And in a squad chock-full of ex-pat Poms, it didn’t sit well.
Josh Hodgson’s form slipped. Tom Starling was starting in the No.9. Hodgson stood down as co-captain. Stuart offered him, as he would, critique and counsel. Listen to Stuart and the advice was accepted in the spirit it was given. According to Stuart, the pair hugged it out afterwards.
Problem for Hodgson was the content of said counsel appeared to also come from the mouth of Stuart’s mate Kent, the forthright, strongly-opinionated, love-him-or-hate-him-you-can’t-ignore-him, ever-talking-head on ubiquitous footy show NRL 360.
Kent didn’t attribute the words to Stuart - you don’t talk out of school.
But Hodgson wasn’t happy that what he considered in-house critique of his play seemed to have ended up on the telly.
While all this malarkey was carrying on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and the other captain, point-scoring machine Jarrod Croker were rubbed out, Josh Papalii was worn out, Joe Tapine’s wife was blurting away on Instagram about something, and Curtis Scott was being a dickhead in a pub.
It was later revealed Scott had had a fight with Bateman in 2020 and injured his hand. And for a club that’s punted some of the NRL’s best and biggest pissed-up pelicans, off our Curtis went with our best wishes.
The Raiders had drawn another line in the sand.
They continued to lose, however.
Bad Boys, Bad Boys, What You Gonna Do, What You Gonna Do When They Come For You
After a dispiriting, 30-10 hiding by Parramatta Eels in Round Six in Canberra on April 17, I texted a mate: Something’s wrong. They gave up. They don’t give up. They never give up.
But they had. Looked like it, anyway. There was a listless quality to the execution. Going through motions stuff. And when the Eels ran at them and through them it was like, Oh, well.
Certainly wasn’t all of them. It was enough, though.
Then they lost to Cowboys, Rabbitohs, Knights, Storm and Roosters.
They did beat Broncos. And Bulldogs. And bye. Kicked bye’s arse.
And then, on Saturday July 3rd at GIO Stadium, mid-year nadir: a 44-6 flogging by Gold Coast Titans.
Gold Coast Titans.
At home!
And lo did we moan: Sweet merciful Mal Meninga! How bad are these bubbies?
The answer: very bad. They were just … limp. Weak. Bad. There was a time they’d scrap for every play, like Melbourne Storm do. Contest everything. Hard. And go all day, frothing.
This was not that time. This time, at home, they lost to Gold Coast Titans 44-6.
And you wondered: what’s worse than shit-house? Shit-hotel? Shit-estate? Shit-Saddam-Hussein’s-Presidential-Palace?
The only way was up. And up they went.
Then down. Then up. Then down.
Then out.
Lime Green Shoots And Leaves
Apart from the dismal shellacking in the last round by depleted Roosters let us never talk of it again, the Raiders came fairly good in the back end of season 2021.
They weren’t the reincarnation of ‘94, of course. But they were competitive and dangerous and, if not feared, they worried good teams. And they frothed like they gave a shit.
In the first Manly game - a short turnaround five days after the unholy whupping by Titans let us never talk of it again, either - halfback Matt Frawley pinned the Sea Eagles in goal and forced them to make drop-out after drop-out. Stuart worked out that putting Starling into dummy-half after 20 minutes was a good way to test tired forwards. And tested tired Manly was. And they didn’t have Tom Trbojevic. And Canberra won 30-16 at Brookvale Oval aka 4 Pines Park aka Home of the Gayamaygal & Garigal Peoples.
Week later, Cronulla Sharks were belted 34-18. Week after that, boom - cop that, Parramatta Eels, 12-10 after Rapana used his lower body to bump Maika Sivo into touch at the death.
And Raiders fans thought: Stuff the ship, Rick. Let’s get on the train. Choo-choo.
Alas wins over Dragons (20-12) and Warriors (28-16) were inveigled by costly losses to Knights (34-24), Storm (26-16), Sea Eagles (19-18) and Roosters (40-16) in the Murder in Mackay I believe we said we’d never talk of it again.
And off to Mad Monday we went.
The Good. There was good? Yes. There was good
We’re good with the forwards. Depth is good. Size is good. Skillset, footwork, grunt and go-forward - good, good, good and good.
Hudson Young was the best. Kid Loco has game. Corey Hariwira-Naera had his moments. Joe Tapine is a prime mover. Elliott Whitehead needs the break Papalii had. But you get plenty from the skipper. Love the bloke.
Love also the Hodgson-Starling one-two punch.
So. Love the forwards. Stand easy, pigs. Rest up. Rip and tear in ‘22.
In the back division, our man Frawley looks nothing more than solid in the seven. But at 26 he’s into his prime. Hopefully his salad years await. But if there was a decent halfback on the market, the Raiders would’ve moved freed-up Williams money to get him.
Because our major mover, Jack Wighton, needs complementing. And complimenting. He had too much on his plate. Or seemed to have. Same thing. After 12 rounds of the season the reigning Dally M Player of the Year hadn’t polled a point.
He needs to rest up and reevaluate what made him great. His form in ‘21 makes him the NRL’s great enigma.
Elsewhere the ever-green pinball Jordan Rapana was player of the season. He doesn’t appear to get tired. He just keeps going, breaking tackles, fending stiffly. Winger as everywhere man. He’s a beauty, Air Jordan.
Elsewhere the find - and then almost immediately the loss - of the season, fullback Xavier Savage. How about him? Looked like Matt Bowen redux. Like Preston Campbell’s young fellow Jayden. Hot to trot.
How about also Harley Smith-Shields and Matthew Timoko. They look purpose-built for big time footy. Bailey Simonsson does, too, and will get better. So will Seb Kris.
And so will the greater unit.
And so will you, VIP subscriber. Thanks for your patronage.
Go well. Go the Raiders.
Good cracking read Matty. If young Tommy S can kick (astutely), and we’re pinned without a notable 2022 halfback, could he be an option in the 7 guernsey?